The new Commandant is reportedly not supportive of civilian events on the base. Last I heard, they're trying to talk him down from ending support of O'side 70.3 in 2020.

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Jim Manton / ERO Sports

As a former public affairs officer, when I see things like what you wrote it makes me crazy, if it is in fact the commandant. Having civilians and active-duty Marines interacting in a positive manner is about the best way that you can devise to get along with your neighbors. And make no mistake, the neighbors of any military base put up with a lot when it comes to fly over flyovers and fires and things. The community relations benefit of the triathlon is worth it from that standpoint alone, in my opinion.

As a competitor, who has raced the duathlon about 10 times and the triathlon five or six times at least, it is disappointing. It makes it more of a fun run, then it does a competitive race.
I'm also not sure what their business model is either, since the active-duty folks never paid entry fees before anyway. The race was pretty much paid for by civilians who entered it. It doesn't really make any sense to me. Chad

That's pretty crazy.
As pointed out, civilians interacting on base with jarheads is only good.
As I understand it, the events benefit MWR or whatever it is called. As in actually helping Marines on that post.
Seems like cutting off the nose to spite the face to me.

It could be the new commander, or a factor of other things (liabilities, security, civilians being disrepctful while on base, etc.)

Having raced, podiumed, and won some of their races, I have never been surrounded by a more organized, professional, and positive group of race organizers and volunteers. There was certainly no shortage of civillians supporting the Pendleton races, so to see the race series move a different direction is hard to swallow - even more so when you consider the $$$ raised for the Marines over the years.

Hopefully they will reconsider in 2020. If they do, I will be happy to support them again. If not, I will always rememeber, and be grateful for, being a part of the original obstacle course racing in the US, racing to a hovercraft finish line, and shaking hands of some of the men and women who help keep us safe at night.

God Bless,

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UOFT

As a person who once wore a green suit, I couldn't agree more. That said, I was surprised to learn that these kind of events still occurred. There used to be a TT series held at Quantico that went away after 9/11. There was a crit in Norfolk where we raced around parked amphibious vehicles. The wind was brutal. It's gone now, too. Don't know if that was due to the fall-off in bike racing, or a change in leadership at the base or that the post 9/11 registration process had a negative impact.

It was a change in command at Camp Pendelton that resulted in Ironman California (a full Ironman in 2000 and 2001) originally being scrapped after just 2 years. Only through the efforts of Graham Fraser and Ironman North America was the race able to return as a Half Ironman in 2002. It's been 10 years since I last did the Half (now 70.3 or whatever they call it) there and I'm looking forward to doing it in 2019. I hope they figure out a way to keep it going....

An obstacle and mud race was run on another nearby Marine Station long before one was held at Pendleton. Not sure if it was even the original.

I suspect the issue has more to do with reduced MWR/MCCS budgets and, to a smaller extent, security concerns, than any desire to roll back civilian participation in these events. These events have always been shoestring-level events for the most part. Camp Lejeune, out east held a great series for many years in the 90s. That series has waned a lot since my days there, when they held things like run/shoot biathlons (I won the last one there, I think), a marathon, etc. They have only six events for 2019. But all the events are open to the public. Quantico’s events seem mostly run the the Marine Corps Marathon enterprise these days, and therefore aren’t directly tied to MCCS.